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I never got around to working on those switches yesterday, but today I've FINALLY found (thank god this has been delayed so much) nice black panel mount 3.5mm jacks!

Much nicer than the ones I was planning on using:

I also got my new switch (no chrome on the bezel) positioned, and leds re-worked to fit nicely.

Nothing major, but I feel that if I don't keep myself "updating" I'm going to lose interest playing the waiting game.

Before:

After:

I am very happy now with that whole side of the case. I used to hate how it looked before I started getting these higher-quality prettier looking adapters/plugs/etc.. now I'm very happy with it.

Still waiting to hear back from the printing company how the laser cutting and printing test goes on my black brushed aluminum vinyl. I called the other day to give'm heck but found out Mr.Bossman was away for a week, then away at a conference, and thought he was waiting on ME, while I was waiting on him. End of the world type stuff.

Tomorrow I expect:

Shocks/springs so I will double up the suspension.
Steering assembly with the proper mounting to finalize my 4ws.
XT90 Battery connectors so I can start making the junction boxes.
6Channel radio to start incorporating all three radios in to the one system.
Second 5000mah 4s battery.
Gyro for the camera, I will finally know whether or not this whole system will work with camera gyro or not.
Other odds and ends.

It's crazy, I order stuff from China some times it takes 6 days, sometimes it takes 30 days, and the pricing never changes. This package went from China, Russia, Switzerland, UK, America, Canada. Another one went, China... Canada. Go figure?

**Edit

So it turns out the new Gyro is perfect! Much better than the Titan775 I first received, same price and all but this one... simply works correctly.

Turns out as well that the 1-turn 360 servo I ordered, is in FACT a continuous turn servo. So it's like a powerful winch now... hmmmm dangerous to have that on the car for the camera pan unless I make up a proper pivot for the wires.

The remote works perfectly also - not bad for $23 6-channel radio system!

Haha, naaah it's not too complex! There's a camera, a video screen, and a controller!

I've been swamped with work for the past few days - going to be pretty busy for the next month or two unfortunately - but today I received my SHOCKS and Steering setup and some other randoms.

The shocks will fit perfectly in the back with the steering servo I have there, but in the front when the suspension is completely UNcompressed (when the wheels are off the ground) the front of the shocks will be pulled in to the front body post mount, so I've got a bit of trimming to do there.

EIther way, I don't have long enough m3 screws - I have M3x40 or M3x50 but I need 65-80mm long to make this work correctly. So I'm waiting for those, and I'll get some pics up!

Haha, naaah it's not too complex! There's a camera, a video screen, and a controller!

I've been swamped with work for the past few days - going to be pretty busy for the next month or two unfortunately - but today I received my SHOCKS and Steering setup and some other randoms.

The shocks will fit perfectly in the back with the steering servo I have there, but in the front when the suspension is completely UNcompressed (when the wheels are off the ground) the front of the shocks will be pulled in to the front body post mount, so I've got a bit of trimming to do there.

EIther way, I don't have long enough m3 screws - I have M3x40 or M3x50 but I need 65-80mm long to make this work correctly. So I'm waiting for those, and I'll get some pics up!

Hey there jfalesi, thanks a lot! I'm no real expert, I've certainly read a lot about everything I'm doing though, I have everyone else who has done similar things in the past to thank for that!

"lower-end" 900mhz isn't really a fair thing to say though! 900mhz technically does a much better job of penetrating trees/walls, but at a slight reduction in clarity overall I understand. Also it depends on the output power too! A 100mW 900mhz compared to a 1000mW makes the world of difference!

Best of luck with your project, hope to see what comes of it! That's a pretty serious truck you have!

No sorry there aren't any updates. I've been really focused on getting this 3D Animation done for these guys in Australia that I've had little time to even sleep - let alone eat - so there hasn't been any work at all done on this project. Within a couple weeks I'm going to be getting back to it full time though so keep an eye out.

I just re-opened that charger and found it's a 30x30mm 5V 20mA fan! The mounting holes are 24mm apart, but there aren't any screws it's just clipped in place there. Hope this helps! =)

No sorry there aren't any updates. I've been really focused on getting this 3D Animation done for these guys in Australia that I've had little time to even sleep - let alone eat - so there hasn't been any work at all done on this project. Within a couple weeks I'm going to be getting back to it full time though so keep an eye out.

I just re-opened that charger and found it's a 30x30mm 5V 20mA fan! The mounting holes are 24mm apart, but there aren't any screws it's just clipped in place there. Hope this helps! =)

Eds, yeah I'm still waiting to hear back from them. As I've said already, it's quite annoying - but working out for me as I've been so busy. Their delays have allowed me to make the "perfect" ground station for this unit anyway, allowed me to take the time to make soooo many changes - as seen in this thread - that have all come together in the end very nicely.

They should be expecting an in-person visit before second quarter January 2013. They're an hour away so it's not the most convenient place to just walk in to. You are correct though, I do have all my parts now and am anxious to get back to work on the system.

That was a total roast of myself.. I do understand more than the average teenager. I know how to utilize a relay and I can solder really well. I did actually install a remote start in my car, (Soldered all connections too) not the easiest thing to do.

Well well well... this project has been extended a tad - more money for me, but pushing the build back further - and I've gone out and built another computer.

I just had to make room and move all my batteries, and figured..... "y'kknnoowww...this would be a good time to test them!" They were all good! EXCEPT for the 4s I left in the car, hooked up to the esc!? Completely dead, and wedged in the battery tray. What an idiot. That's lipo #2 that I've killed.

Don't be lazy! If you have your charger ripped open, just put it back together and storage charge the lipo!! Heh, now I have to order another from China (the only place I can find a 5000mah 4s that fits) but for now I still have the backup one allowing the car to work regardless.

P.S. For those interested in computers, I just built a 3930k i7 on an Asus p9X79 Deluxe, 64g quadchannel ram, it's a beast! It renders four frames, in the time my i2600k renders 2 frames in the time my Phenom2 x4 renders 1 frame. Not bad not bad... $2400 not good hahah

Still working day in and day out since November 17 on the same project, but only just added the 3930k to the rendering. There are three systems in total, but the AMD is junk in comparison and barely contributes, but still helps.

I'm getting really tired of working on this video, and my car is still in pieces!! Poor thing

I just got my IR Heat Gun in the mail today! Ordered it sometime around the end of October I think, geesh! You win some you lose some on international free shipping it seems haha.

I'm going over everything in the design again making sure I remember everything and understand how I'll be doing it all. I'm thinking of changing it so that the screen is in the deep part of the case, and the controls are on the "lid" of the case, this will allow the screen to have a sort of built-in sun shade AND allow the controls to be at an ergonomically sound height.

One issue I have though is the wiring for EXTERNAL control. I've been planning on using a TQ transmitter shell to control the car if I ever want to use the old wheel/trigger combo instead of the joystick updown/leftright combo I have built in.

Right now I'm trying to work out the logistics for a wired controller - 8 wires, through a din connector which also sends power to the TQ - or wireless. I don't think WIRELESS will work the way I want though.

Basically ordered another motor - currently have the 2100kv controlled by my MMP, but want to see how the 2350 will compare as I found the 2100kv slightly too slow for me. It will only be about another 5mph faster, but it looks prettier too!

A bunch of led boards, wire and misc stuff.

Another gyro "just in case." I might have it hooked up to steering or one of the second cameras, or a headlight system... we'll see.

Two more 5000mah 4s batteries, so I'll have three in total, haha 12,000mah I'm sure I'd break something before I ran outta juice.

Another 2.4ghz 6ch radio system, not that I need one but it will be good to have a backup, or spare available for a future project.

When I woke up today it was:

"Okay, sit down beside the car, and just.. START BUILDING and do NOT go online to look at parts."

So I got hold of the guys I've been trying to get to do the laser cutting and printing! The balls rolling again.

I've changed up the design a bit more to allow the controls to be on the LID of the case as apposed to the "bin" of it. Now the screen will have a slight sunshade "built in" and also allow the controls to be at a comfortable level.

I'm using the Pelican 1450 case and started to model it up quickly to see if I could find any issues in the design. I didn't care much for modeling any detail, it's all very very low quality and basic sizes, but here's the first real "look" at how it's going together!

Based off of the latest design:

SO what I've done is moved the speakers to the TOP and sides of the case. Moves the "external controller" on to the inside of the case to the right of the controller joystick. Moved all the sensitivity and trim knobs to the bottom left, aaaannd also added a second video receiver. At least a SPOT for one, I don't have another one, and I don't have a diversity setup but I will in time I'm sure.

Diversity is a great little trick to ensure you are always getting the best possible signal! What you do is use TWO antennas, usually two different types to receive the video and which ever one is receiving it better will be displayed on the screen! It's a neat little trick, but I'm not positive I'm going to do it.

I figured, "why not" after all. The walkies are pretty perfect for what I need, took some searching but basically:

They accept an external microphone and an external speaker. They use SMA antennas, so that means I can mount the antenna wherever I want. They don't have any flashy lcd screens or anything like that at all meaning:

I'll just mount one of them inside my ground station, and have a little button beside a mini microphone and then on the car itself, I'll just have it always on and waiting to receive from my ground station. The RETURN is simple: Microphone on the camera!

I will have three mics on the car, all selectable from the ground station and that way I don't need to have a remote push to talk feature on the car (VOX).

I will have a 3.5mm stereo jack for the walkie's microphone, you can see it in this picture beside the SD MEMORY card slot.

You can also see the final version of the external controller connect.

Hahaha thanks guys! She isn't very excited about it being online, but that makes it all the better! Hahah

I'm kind of at a standstill with this project:

1.) Chinese New Year has delayed the shipping of my walkie talkies, not even been shipped yet.
2.) Still STILL waiting for a reply from the first reply of those laser cutters, JEEEZ!
3.) Battery that I have for the car doesn't have XT90 connector on it yet, and I'm hesitant to install it in fear of breaking the car before I even start the build. (last battery puffed up)
4.) 4WS isn't perfected yet, still kind of wobbly, and there's a lot I can do but I don't know where to start.
5.) This is a massive project, now that I have thousands of dollars worth of gear to slap together, I don't know where to start!

Each passing day I say, "k..... TOMORROW I'm going to do __________" but then I end up ordering something else! I'm my own worst enemy in this.

Well now all you need to do is STOP looking for better parts so you in turn stop buying more parts and start putting it back together. Also would help to stop procrastinating
Get the Summit back in one piece, then start putting your controller together. If it was me and you had not heard back from your engravers by now, I would have started looking a long time ago which I would suggest you do as well. Also does not hurt to have more than one quote on what you want done.
TET (Chinese New Year) and the delay of the walkie talkies really has nothing to do with getting the build started.
All that money wrapped up in your project and now you are stuck as where to begin.....start at the front or rear bumper and get with the program and get this thing finished !
OK lecture is over Remember its supposed to be fun as well as a challenge, you created the challenge now make it fun again or it might not get finished.

I must clarify though: I've been in talks with the cutters recently, it's just that they have this strange idea of waiting 3 days between emails. I've already looked elsewhere and with quotes given and changes needed, I've narrowed it down to this one place.

The walkie talkies aren't a huge thing, but I want to get this project right the FIRST time, and if I just say "yeeaaaah I'll probably be able to do this or that" well that's how you run in to issues of course. I want to see how big they are, whether or not I'm mounting the antenna on the case, or just burying the whole unit in the case itself (I want to see that the rest of the ground station doesn't shield the walkie at all) and I need to see how the leds are on the TX/RX if it's a bi-led or just two different coloured ones etc..

This is certainly a fun project, though embarassing in how long it's development has been I am very pleased with how all the patience has paid off in the current design.

I guess my point about, "I don't know where to start" was more of a, "Man... this is going to be fun!"

In other news, everyone who has seen this speaker stand with the Pelican case have all been wowed by it! It really looks quite fantastic in person, the pictures don't do this stuff justice - I can only image that's how it is with everyone else's FPV setups.

Going to work on the 4WS and get it finalized today, I made it work just fine but now I want to ruggidize it to be up to par with the Summit!

Everything you have done has looked fantastic and only imagine how great it looks in person. I did not mean to down play what you have done or have planed at all !!!! Only trying to give you a push to start putting it back together. The station I can understand your wanting to wait, but is that really preventing you from putting the truck back together? At lest you are wanting to finalize your rear steering
Was only trying to give you a little incentive as a big brother might try and do....oh wait they would more than likely try and break something LOL!
Outstanding planing and execution of this whole project IMO. Just a nudge in the right direction HA HA

I totally appreciate it!! Because of your big brotherness, I've been working since you posted! Rear steering is solid now, going to do one or two more things and that's it!

Been searching high and low for my heat shrink so I can get another XT90 connector on another battery, get that battery charged up and stretch the'ol legs on this car! You're very right though - I dunno where my head was - there's nothing stopping me from building the CAR portion of this! Once this 4ws steering is done, and battery converted I'll play with it a bunch and probably break something, we'll see. I have receivers and transmitters everywhere!! Let this be another lesson: When you are using multiple tx/rx just number them all!

While figuring out how to cleanly mount everything on the Summit, I've come to the conclusion that with all the hardware I have, it just won't work out the way I'd like it to.

And so.. I'm going to buy a 3D printer. Why not right? I'll be able to fab up broken parts which if they break again (which they will) will be cheaper than driving out to the LHS and paying for gas and parts, let alone the wait times associated!

OH and this will of course...... allow me to fab up all kinds of cool things for the mounting - Google "Fantasy Military Hardware" or something, to get a gist of what'll be possible.

I've been researching 3D printing seriously for the past few days (been following it as it grows over the years) and come to the conclusion that for what I want and need, the CUBE will be more than sufficient, though it's "ink" is about 3x the cost of everyone elses.

Anyway, just wanted to say: The only limitation now will be my imagination!

I was going to go that way to begin with, but the glossy plastic gets scratched so quickly and leaves so many finger prints. Then I decided to put the CF vinyl on it, then a charger inside, backup screen, complete controls, camera controls, walkie-talkie etc.. and thus mine being so crammed.

I've checked out hundreds of pages of FPV ground stations and vehicles and that's how I've learned everything, but every once and awhile a foreign Polish, Russian or German fellow shows up with their own creation and they're always excellent like that one!

After receiving all kinds of goodies in the mail I've replaced the 2100kv motor with the new - prettier - 2350kv motor! No pictures or anything of it yet, my phone battery keeps shorting out and killing the phone - two new ones in the mail.

I finally cut the connectors off my old Velineon 3500 so I could hook this beast up to the MMP and all things have gone well!

*Apparently, the MMP has no issue delivering the 150amps the motor apparently asks for.

Heh I said above, "apparently" the esc has no issue supplying the power, becaause: That's total stall requirement I'm sure (2400watts!) but when lifted up off the ground the motor never has to work that hard AND even when on the ground, I have punch control setup so that I never give 100% throttle instantly anyway. The only issue I see is when crawling against a wall, that motor will pull all kinds of power.

Two 5000mah 4s 35c batteries can certainly supply the power though.

While waiting for this 3D printer, I've been designing and designing and designing the car in 3D, so many hundreds of pages of concept art for military drones, space ships etc... I think it'll be something special once it's all said and done.